Sponsor: FTB’s 2024 Penn State football coverage is sponsored by the Sports Medicine specialists at Concierge Medical Associates. Schedule an in-person or remote consultation at: conciergemedical.ai

The scene in Camp Randall, as halftime approached with Penn State trailing Wisconsin by three, went from “Oh, well” to “Oh, (choose your own four-letter expletive)” in a matter of seconds.

The Nittany Lions had been riding that edge they’d been riding for most of the USC game, where they weren’t quite sharp but they weren’t in serious danger, a Ferrari with a sticky second gear. The second half, where the team had done most of its damage this year, awaited.

And then Drew Allar limped off the field.

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As far as bye weeks are concerned, Penn State’s second idle date of the season came at a pretty good time from the standpoint that the Nittany Lions are immune from the overrated dreaded trap game that often follows a big road win; if you don’t play, you can’t fall into that trap. And their next game, a night kick in Camp Randall Stadium, should be more than enough to bring out their full effort and focus.

However, in the wake of the overtime defeat of USC, some bigger challenges than a trap game might lurk ahead, and only some of them have to do with the opponents.

As of this writing, Penn State is ranked third in the nation in both the AP and Coaches polls. Its playoff chances this week were plus-95 percent according to one predictive model. A program that has struggled to get inside the velvet rope and hang with the true elites of college football for the past few seasons is not only inside the rope but has a prime seat at the bar, and the back pats and highballs are coming from all directions.

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Continuing a season-long trend, Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki once again went full Willy Wonka with future All-American and Mackey Award winner Tyler Warren last Saturday

Sponsor: FTB’s 2024 Penn State football coverage is sponsored by the Sports Medicine specialists at Concierge Medical Associates. Schedule an in-person or remote consultation at: conciergemedical.ai

In a football game that was absolutely jam-packed with creative and unorthodox offensive architecture, one play stood out for all viewers as the most aesthetically interesting.

You know the one:

So we’d be fools if we didn’t unpack the schematics and design of Tyler Warren’s touchdown. Time to break down the Center-Eligible-2QB-Double Pass.

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There was a feeling in this one, for most of the first half and a few parts of the second, that the chickens had again come home to roost. Or at least been packed in the luggage compartment for the flight from—ahem—Harrisburg.

Penn State was, once again, crapping the figurative bed against a marquee opponent on a marquee stage after weeks of gobbling up cupcakes. USC looked faster, sharper, better-coached, and more ready for the moment, even if the talent discrepancy between the teams was almost invisible. No, this wasn’t a game against Ohio State or Michigan but it was a game against a dangerous and desperate group led by a coach who knows a thing or two about scoring points. It was 20-6 at halftime but it felt like it could have been worse as easily as it could have been better, and the Nittany Lions knew they had to battle the southern California heat as well as a team that was gaining confidence with each drive after some disappointments of its own the last few weeks.

Instead of letting the moment take them, though, as they had so many times the last few seasons, this group of Nittany Lions took the moment and held on, emerging with an overtime win that maintained the trajectory of the season and arguably changed the direction of the program.

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